The lyrics with Chun Jiang Qu intersperse short descriptions of nature and life on a river in spring with personal notes by people living there: a woman who compares the way a man ruined her heart with the way leaves ruin the beauty of a clear stream, a wife who crossed the river to live with her husband's family, a traveller. However, this Springtime River Melody is actually the earliest known version of a series of melodically related qin pieces,4 and these others mostly connect the river with a theme popular amongst literati: living a carefree life apart from society. The titles of these other musically related melodies include Chun Jiang Wan Tiao (Spring River Evening View)5 and Chun Jiang (Spring on the River)6 as well as Qiu Jiang Wan Diao (Autumn River Evening Fishing).7 In spite of the change in season, this latter version still retains close melodic connections with the others mentioned here.

Chun Jiang Qu (Springtime River Melody; Tang dynasty lyrics; two versions: 1511 and 1585)
The present version and the one published in 15859 have almost identical lyrics but the melodies are somewhat different; in both the melody seems rather dubiously to be attributed to one of the three lyricists, Guo Zhen.

Chun Jiang (Springtime on the River; instrumental; six versions
[omit one unrelated] from 1539 to 1596)
Four have no commentary, the other two are attributed to the Yuan essayist and poet Yu Ji.11

Qiu Jiang Wan Diao (Autumn River Evening Fishing; anonymous lyrics;
three versions: 1530, 1585 and 1589)
Although the season has changed to autumn (here "autumn river" is not the name of a river), the music seems more closely related to Chun Jiang than that of the preceding. Although this title survives in six handbooks, only the first three are related. The earliest, dated
1530, is associated with yet another person, also a recluse who enjoyed fishing,
Yan Ziling.

As for the related versions of the melody that seemingly was so popular in the 16th century, what is remarkable is not just that from 1511 to 1589 at least 12 versions had appeared in at least 11 handbooks, or that during this time it had had at least two completely different sets of lyrics, told three quite different stories, and was particularly connected to four different men; equally remarkable is the fact that after a 1609 reprint of Qiu Jiang Wan Diao (also 1802?) it seems suddenly to have completely disappeared from the repertoire.12

Further regarding the lyrics, those in 1511 by Zhang Ji and Zhang Zhongsu both mention spring (as does the original version of the Guo Yuanzhen lyrics mentioned in the Yuefu Shiji preface discussed next paragraph). It is thus quite puzzling that their setting here has a melodic relationship to versions of the melody Autumn River Evening Fishing, particularly some of the later versions (see outline below). Mention has already been made above of a similar confusion between Departure at the River in Spring/Autumn.

The Taigu Yiyin tablature setting the five Chun Jiang Qu lyrics to music uses two large circles to separate the melody into three parts. The third part has the three Zhang Zhongsu poems, without indicating where to separate them.

The preface in Taigu Yiyin seems to suggest that Guo Zhen wrote a large number of poems concerning life on the frontier (where he had himself served as a military officer). There is thus perhaps some logic in associating him with this melody.15

As for the two or more melodically related Chun Jiang melodies attributed to the Yuan dynasty essayist and poet Yu Ji, the connection is not quite so clear.

This was created by the virtuous Tang statesman Guo Yuanzhen. Tang people who served on the frontier would go away for three years without returning, their bones drying out in the sandy gravel; Yuanzhen mourned for them, so he wrote this song in order to reveal the depths of their thoughts of home, and he also had 300 poems about such missions. (Translation tentative)

1.References for Springtime River Melody (春江曲 Chun Jiang Qu) (I/294)
Chun Jiang Qu could also be translated as Spring River Melody (Chunjiang Qu), but none of the melodies with Chun Jiang as or in the title seem to use it as a proper name. As for 春江曲 Chun Jiang Qu, ZWDCD has no entries for that. Instead 14146.67 (and 5/642) Chun Jiang refer more generally to a river in spring; the only proper name mentioned is in a reference saying that it is short for 富春江 Fuchun River, which runs into Hangzhou from the southwest (see
below). There are no musical references, and no mention of the Yuefu Shiji poems used as lyrics for the present qin melody. These lyrics are in YFSJ
Folio 77 (Chinese edition, pp. 1081-1093.)

Another spring river melody, Moonlit River in Spring, also has lyrics from
Yuefu Shiji. It has no connection to any versions of the present melody, but is so popular that a brief comment is added here.

The YFSJ introduction to Chun Jiang Hua Yue Ye says that during the Tang dynasty 陳後主 Chen Houzhou and 何胥 He Xu made these and other lyrics into melodies, and there have probably been various melodies with this title since then. However, only the lyrics still exist, and the popular modern melody of this title is said to have been adapted around 1930 from an old pipa lute melody called Flute and Drums at Dusk (夕陽簫鼓 Xiyang Xiao Gu; also called 潯陽琵琶 Xunyang Pipa), and since then many times revised. Recently several people have adapted it for guqin (usually with orchestra), but of course this has no melodic connections with any traditional guqin melodies.
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2.ModeTaigu Yiyin does not organize melodies by mode, but the other musically related versions, including 1585 version, group it with shang mode melodies.
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3.Painting by Ju Jie: Swollen River in Springtime (居節:潮滿春江圖)
The original of this is in the Zhenjiang Museum. It is copied in many places on the internet. (Details: 紙本水墨 縱47.5厘米 橫26.2厘米 鎮江市博物館藏). Ju Jie (ca. 1530- ca. 1585) was a student of 文徵明 Wen Zhengming
(Wiki). A small boat can be seen in the foreground. The inscription says,

潮滿春江澹不流，東風扇暖柳初柔；
夕陽遙見青山色，吹破浮雲落小舟。
Swollen is the river in spring, calm and not flowing....

4.Spring on the River in Zha Fuxi's GuideZha's guide groups Chun Jiang Qu with Chun Jiang (River in Springtime). However, as the the commentary above shows, there are also several other related melodies that the Guide lists separately but which should also be considered together with Chun Jiang Qu.
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5.Spring River Evening View
(春江晚眺 Chun Jiang Wan Tiao;
1525; III/118; listen 聽)Also written Chunjiang Wan Tiao. Zha Guide 19/183/-- lists it separately as occuring only in 1525, but it is clearly related to Chun Jiang Qu and, perhaps more closely, Qiu Jiang Wan Diao (Autumn River Evening Fishing; note 秋 and 釣 instead of 春 and 眺). The latter is generally connected to Yan Ziling, said to have had a Fishing Terrace on the Fuchun ("wealthy spring") River, about 100 km upstream from Hangzhou, but the 1525 commentary for Chunjiang Wan Tiao connects it with Zhang Zhihe (referred to by his nickname, Xuanzhenzi - Master of Obscure Reality) fishing without bait. Zhang was from 金華 Jinhua, a town also in Zhejiang province on what is today called the 義烏江 Yiwu River, which runs through Yiwu City then Jinhua before joining the 衢江 Qujiang
(Quzhou) in 蘭溪 Lanxi, which in turn joins the 富春江 Fuchun ("Abundant Spring") River above the Fishing Terrace of Yan Ziling. It is not clear whether there is any connection between these titles and attributions and the Fuchun River, in particular as chunjiang most commonly means "river in spring", just as qiujiang commonly means "river in autumn".

6.Spring on the River (春江 Chun Jiang) in Fengxuan Xuanpin (II/183; 1539)This title is found in seven handbooks from 1539 to 1589. This instrumental version of the spring river melody, though clearly unrelated to the 1525 Spring River, is just as clearly related to Chun Jiang Qu throughout but, in spite of the almost 20 year difference in publication dates, it cannot be stated definitively which came earlier. Later versions of Chun Jiang connect it with the Yuan dynasty essayist Yu Ji (see below). However, the three section titles of 1539, which has no preface, seem to give it more of a connection with Guo Yuanzhen, who spent time fighting on the frontier.

Jia Yi (賈誼; 200 - 169 BCE; Shi Ji biography and Wiki) was a noted poet and stateman, advisor to Emperor Wen, whom he served with great loyalty. Also known as 賈生 Student Jia, he liked to compare himself with Qu Yuan, especially after he was slandered and exiled to Sichuan. Called back he once lectured the emperor half the night, keeping him on the edge of his mat, and as a result got a better posting. Later, however, the Emperor's son died under his care and out of shame he committed suicide. He is mentioned here under Sheng De Song and Kechuang Yehua.
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7.Autumn River Evening Fishing (秋江晚釣 Qiu Jiang Wan Diao)Also Qiujiang Wan Diao; Zha also indexed it separately (15/156/333), the discussion here includes a more
complete index, showing that a related melody survived in three handbooks. The first, published in 1530, has a mixture of instrumental and sung melodies (see
commentary). The instrumental melodies all seem to have been copied from 1425. With the vocal melodies this is not so clear. Melodies of this title published after 1589 are unrelated to here.
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8.Tracing the Spring River/River in Springtime melodiesZha, Guide 14/150/267, lists 7 handbooks with melodies called 春江曲 Chun Jiang Qu or 春江 Chun Jiang; it did not index 1552 or 1556. The two melodies called Chun Jiang Qu (1511 and 1585) have lyrics (L). One of those that drops "qu" from the title is unrelated, but the Guide lists separately two other titles whose melodies are related to the present one. Altogther they can be grouped as follows:

9.Chun Jiang Qu in Chongxiu Zhenchuan Qinpu (IV/375; 1585)The lyrics are almost the same as in 1511 (including having 江水深澄澄 instead of 江水春沉沉), the melody very similar; the commentary is almost the same, omitting "亦猶三百篇行役之詩也。".
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12.Sudden disappearance of the Spring River melodiesThe various 16th century versions under this title, as well as its Autumn River versions, are all quite distinctive in their straightforward style, perhaps akin to popular music of the time or perhaps simply created to present a carefree atmosphere. This, as well as their number and related associations, suggests great popularity, but it may also suggest that the various versions may be best considered as a melodic style rather than as individual melodies. It is possible that this style can also be found in other melodies not yet examined, and perhaps solidified under a later title; further research is warranted on this.
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13.Originally instrumental or a song?The earliest and the third surviving versions of this melody have lyrics: the present 1511 Chun Jiang Qu and the 1530 Qiu Jiang Wan Diao (completely different lyrics); the second (the 1525 Chun Jiang Wan Tiao) and the fourth (the 1539 Chun Jiang) are the earliest purely instrumental versions. However, a careful examination suggests that the fact that the earliest published version had lyrics does not necessarily mean that the melody originated as a qin song.

The 1511 sung version and 1539 instrumental version both open with harmonics. The first four phrases of both have 5 notes each and are exactly the same. 1511 then continues the harmonics with two 7 note phrases while 1539 has a related melody but in 17 notes phrased 5+6+3+4. In 1511 the first part of this harmonic passage is accompanied by the lyrics of Guo Zhen; the second part of the passage, set to the opening couplet of the Zhang Ji lyrics, marks the beginning of the second section (marked by a large circle in the tablature). In 1539, by contrast, Section 1 consists of the entire harmonic passage. This suggests that the sectioning of 1511 is determined by the lyrics while that of 1539 is determined by the music. Meanwhile the 1530 Qiu Jiang Wandiao was published with entirely different lyrics. Here Section 1 consists of a harmonic passage still related to the above; Section 2, in stopped sounds, begins with a melodic line similar to the beginning of the stopped sounds in the above two.

In sum, a comparison of the first two sections of the 1511, 1530 and 1539 versions may suggest that the compiler of Taigu Yiyin (1511) took the melody as well as the lyrics from an earlier source. Since the 1511 handbook used ancient lyrics, it had to apply them to a more recent melody. The somewhat unnatural breaking of the harmonic passage two thirds of the way through instead of at its end suggests that the lyrics were paired to an existing melody rather than to one specifically created for it. As for the 1530 version, comparing the sectioning of the lyrics with that of the music suggests either that the music and lyrics may have been created together, or that one was created to go with the other. Furthermore, the instrumental melodies in 1530 were all copied from an earlier sources: were its qin songs likewise copied from earlier sources? In this context, its arrangement compared to that of 1511 seems to suggest that, although the lyrics of its version of the melody were more recent than those of 1511
(comment), its melody, or arrangement as a melody, could have been older.
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